This being a review of a mini-module, the following contains SPOILERS. Potential players should jump to the conclusion.

All right, still here?

The Pass of the Black Goat is home to two weird types of humanoids – the fox-like Pellas Troth and the elephant-eared Mahmat Troth – which are mortal enemies, though they both worship the same concept, Silence, under the auspice of the mysterious, sphinx-like and utterly silent black goat.

Attuned to silence, the Mahmat Troth can hear those approaching from a mile away and only open the gates guarding their pass for groups of 20 or less – and after that, audiences with the Goat are possible, though not easy to get. As complicating factors, the Pellas Troth exist – as is the option for the Black Goat to potentially be REALLY interested in a particular PC. As a powerful spellcaster, the Goat can also work as a patron and thus comes with her own invoke patron checks-table and the taint-progression slowly turns the character into a creature akin to the Black Goat – and potentially suitable as a partner.

Beyond that, we get a table of spellburn for the Black Goat as a patron, advice on getting more out of this area and a one-level complex depiction of the silence servants of the goat may evoke. The pdf also comes with .tif player-friendly maps and a .jpg version of the map.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn’t notice any glitches. Layout adheres to PDG’s two-column, b/w-standard and the b/w-artworks are nice, the maps serviceable. The pdf comes fully bookmarked.

Author Daniel J. Bishop has a gift for creating areas and modules breathing a sense of antiquity, of old sword & sorcery panache and this is no different – the canyon, with its weird inhabitants can be anything from obstacle to hostile to the base of a massive conflict between two seemingly inconsolable people – whether just as a waypoint or as a full-blown adventure-locale, this supplement delivers an intriguing, interesting place that oozes a fresh sense of the weird and alien. My only gripe would be, that when compared to CE 1, it offers a tad bit less weirdness, but this is me nitpicking at an insanely high level. My final verdict will hence clock in at 5 stars.

Endzeitgeist out.

The Black Goat is available from:

If you have enjoyed this RPG review, please consider donating a small amount of money to help support this website.